My first 'how to steal' article

[kblessinggr]

How to Steal an Android Market App » KBeezie

Or in my case "how to back your shit up" if you don't go beyond step five.

Basically demonstrating how insanely easy it is to rip an app off the android market place. So hopefully for the sake of the developers they'll change that practice as it seems some developers or companies are on the fence about the android market place given how much easier it would be to rip off and share an apk file than it is to steal the latest copy of an app on Apple's App Store.

I never bothered to write something similar on iPodTouchAnswers back when I still owned the domain, because applications in the app store had a somewhat reasonable level of protection, where as the Market Place only relies on the fact that end users don't have root access.

 

[Rage9]

It's pretty fucking easy to get pirated apps for your iphone once you jailbreak it. So I'm not really see the huge difference between the two.

 

[kblessinggr]

It's pretty fucking easy to get pirated apps for your iphone once you jailbreak it. So I'm not really see the huge difference between the two.

The major difference is that on an iPhone/iPod you have to least find the cracked ipa file once you've 'patched' your phone (you can't just jailbreak and install a cracked ipa, you gota patch some system files first).

Where as the android route, anything available for purchase in the android market place is also available to be ripped, thats not something you can say of the App Store, especially if you want the latest version. You still got to find a copy of the cracked IPA file which has been even harder for people now that several one-click-install sites like appulous went down.

So to compare:

iPhone : Jailbreak (easy), Patch (moderate), Search (easy to moderate), double click IPA on PC (easy)
Android : Root (moderate-hard), buy/copy/refund (easy), share apk (very easy).
And if you give the apk file to someone without a rooted phone they can still install it. (where as you can't install a cracked IPA on a non-jailbroken iphone).

if someone were to buy an IPA fresh from Apple's App Store, they'd still have to figure out how to crack it.

 

[Rage9]

Got ya.

 

[iPwnNoobs]

omg !!! people can get stuff for free? it'll definitely kill the industry - i doubt people will make android apps now because of this. soon artists will stop making music alltogether too because people can hear their music for free on the internet and they won't buy CDs!!!! OH NOES!!! OMG!

 

[kblessinggr]

omg !!! people can get stuff for free? it'll definitely kill the industry - i doubt people will make android apps now because of this. soon artists will stop making music alltogether too because people can hear their music for free on the internet and they won't buy CDs!!!! OH NOES!!! OMG!

You and I know the reality of the matter... but reality doesn't always get clicks.